OU’s Board of Regents approved funding for the Freshman Housing Master Plan, increasing food and housing rates, new facilities and leasing for Norman’s new aviation academy and a change in leadership in its March meeting Tuesday.
At the start of Tuesday’s meeting, the board unanimously appointed Regent Natalie Shirley as chair of the board, succeeding former Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating. Regent Eric Stevenson was appointed as vice-chair.
OU President Joseph Harroz Jr. invited Teri Reed, the inaugural director of the OU Polytechnic Institute, to speak about her visions for the future. Reed began her new position on March 1.
“This is an exciting time for me to come home,” Reed said in the meeting. “It's an exciting opportunity for me to create something for my alma mater that will benefit the region and state and beyond. The polytechnic institute is an opportunity that really will make the connections for technology that we all know are necessary.”
Reed’s appointment was approved by the regents during Tuesday’s meeting as well as the appointment of Dr. Dale Bratzler as dean of Hudson College of Public Health.
The board approved all 19 consent items, including $8.2 million for a cumulative construction cost limit of $13.3 million for OU’s Freshman and Housing Master Plan. Additional funds will be used for construction site improvements, utility work, site demolition and the installation of foundations and piers for the first of two proposed buildings in Phase 1 of the master plan.
The board also approved a total project budget of $195 million for the first phase of the plan, which would replace Walker Center with a north and south building. The first building, approximately 160,000 square feet with 556 beds, would be completed in summer 2025 and the second in 2026.
OU's Freshman Housing Master Plan renderings
OU's Freshman Housing Master Plan renderings
A rendering from OU's first phase of OU's Freshman Housing Master Plan. OU's Board of Regents approved funding and the plans for the first phase in its meeting on March 7.
The board previously approved the demolition of Adams Center in January, which will take place in May.
Also approved in the meeting were the increased housing and food rates for the 2023-24 academic year with a few amendments.
The standard meal plan will increase by $235, from $2,610 to $2,845. Housing rates for the Towers, Walker and Couch, will increase by $140, from $3,490 to $3,630, for double rooms and $220, from $5,490 to $5,710, for single rooms. Cross Village will increase by at least $315, depending on room size, with single suits increasing from $7,530 to $7,980. Traditions East and West will also see rate increases, with two-bed, two-bath units rising from $3,340 to $3,540.
Headington Hall, which the agenda did not originally show as having rate increases, will see increases for all room types, including a $460 increase for two-bed, two-bath single rooms and a $319 increase for doubles.
“We all know inflation has impacted every component of this,” Harroz said in the meeting. “A large part of this has to do with that impact.”
OU, with these increases, will be ranked sixth out of the 10 Big 12 schools, according to the meeting’s agenda.
Also included in the consent items approved by the board was the purchase of a shuttle bus for OU’s Norman campus, funding and plans for new athletic facilities and the selection of an architect for the Michael F. Price College of Business Master Plan with the renovations estimated to cost around $23 million.
The board also approved two bonds at the meeting, one of which was for Norman’s campus. According to the agenda, the university’s administration is preparing general, limited and special obligation bonds in the next nine months to provide at most $235 million for the construction of new student housing and athletic facility construction or improvements.
The board also approved a ground lease to construct the aviation academy at the Max Westheimer Aiport. The aviation academy, which was approved by Norman voters on Feb. 14, will serve high school students and focus on education and practical experience.
The regents approved the usage of 14 acres between Lexington Avenue and Westheimer Drive and approved leasing the property for 50 years to build the academy at Westheimer. The university will also reserve a separate space in the facility for OU’s School of Aviation to use.
More from OU's Board of Regents March meeting:
The board also approved a disposition of property for the Jenkins Avenue Project, which allows the City of Norman, with the university, to widen and expand the area between Lindsey Street and State Highway 9.
The board also approved the negotiation of a ground lease for Traditions East and West for Gilbane Development Company for 50 years with an up-front payment of at least $82,429,000. Closing for the transaction is tentatively scheduled for Sept. 15.
In his opening remarks, Regent Rick Nagel reported that OU received a record number of applicants this year, breaking last year’s record of around 22,000 applicants last year.
Nagel also addressed Gov. Kevin Stitt’s challenge to OU and Oklahoma State University to have at least 40,000 students by 2030. In spring 2023, OU’s headcount enrollment for all three campuses was 29,920.
“We have to acknowledge them to do so that at some point soon OU will reach a tipping point, where our moment, like those of Alabama and other smaller states, will be comprised of more out-of-state students than in-state students,” Nagel said. “It has been a long-held view to that day would be met with potential criticism. That has served as a sort of glass ceiling in the past year with respect to recruitment, and it's such held us back from growing more aggressively.”
Nagel asked that the committee for OU’s administration report back with a strategic plan to fully accomplish increasing enrollment, per Stitt’s request.
Also during the meeting, Harroz showed the university’s “There’s Only One Oklahoma” campaign video. Harroz mentioned that the university is actively still searching for a new vice president of marketing and communications to help push this branding forward.
Mackenzie Dilbeck, former vice president of marketing and communications, was appointed to executive associate athletics director during the regents meeting.
Harroz said that not only the university is ready athletically for OU’s move to the Southeastern Conference in 2024, but also its branding and academics are well-positioned for the university’s future.
“What we've done so much time working on, making sure we can achieve these things that part of the conversation has been — Are we articulating what's going on in a way that's clear to everyone? Are we able to showcase those things that are being built to truly change your lives? Are we communicating that in a way that everybody can see, understand and feel and most importantly, realize what's available and attach themselves to the University of Oklahoma,” Harroz said.
This story was edited by Alexia Aston and Jazz Wolfe.
